Ombudsman to enquire why AP hides Poroshenko-Phanar agreement

Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmila Denisova

The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmila Denisova promises to look into the reasons for the refusal of the Presidential Administration to provide a copy of the cooperation agreement that Petro Poroshenko and the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew signed on November 3, 2018. This is stated in the response of the Obudsman to "Ukrainian News”.

The news agency filed a journalistic request to provide a copy of the agreement. According to the law, it should have been submitted within five working days, but this has not been done so far: the officials responded that they extend the time to process the query to 20 days. Such a delay is acceptable if the request "concerns the provision of a large amount of information or requires the search for information among a significant amount of data". The Presidential Administration did not explain what exactly prevented from responding journalists on time.

As the UOJ reported, the "Agreement on cooperation and interaction between Ukraine and the Ecumenical Constantinople Patriarchate" was signed by President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Patriarch Bartholomew, following a meeting in Istanbul on November 3. The press service of the President reported that the document is an agreement on the creation of an independent Ukrainian Church.

The head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk stated that the signing of the agreement is exclusively in a political plane and lies outside the canonical field.

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